Physician Profile

Ann Silk, MD

Medical Oncologist

I was thrilled to join the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in the Fall of 2014. I care for patients with melanoma, other skin cancers, sarcomas, and patients who participate in clinical trials. My research is focused on combination treatment with immunotherapy and radiotherapy for brain metastases from melanoma.

I first learned of the interaction between cancer and the immune system when I read “And the Band Played On,” a fascinating political memoir of the early AIDS epidemic. Some of the people suffering from AIDS developed cancers, including a strange purplish cancer on the skin called Kaposi’s sarcoma. This connection implies that our immune system usually protects us from the development of cancer. Now, many years after I first read that book, we know that we can use the immune system to fight cancer. We have effective immunotherapies for various cancers, including antibodies and cancer vaccines.

I completed medical school and a Master’s degree in Clinical Research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Following an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, I completed fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Michigan. During fellowship, I concentrated on melanoma research. I developed an interest in treating patients with brain metastases, and worked closely with an immune therapy called ipilimumab and focused radiation therapy called stereotactic radiosurgery.

I am a member of the Melanoma and Soft Tissue Oncology Program here at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and I work closely with the surgeons, radiation oncologists, and neurosurgeons to provide comprehensive care. I am also a member of the Phase I/Investigational Therapeutics Program, which enables our center to provide early access to new therapies to our patients. My goals are to take excellent care of the patients who entrust themselves to me as their physician, and to improve upon the current standard of care through forward-thinking clinical trials.